NOTICE:  ELIMINATION OF CANCER ASSISTANCE UNIT

Effective July 1, 2009, the Cancer Assistance Unit, administered within the North Carolina Division of Public Health, has been eliminated as part of the State’s budgetary reductions.  If you have any questions, please email: Susie Harrington  or call  919-855-3652.

Official Notification Memorandum

North Carolina has been at the forefront in addressing the needs of its indigent residents with cancer. The Cancer Assistance Unit (CAU) was established by the General Assembly in 1945 under the Cancer Control Act of 1945 (General Statutes 130A-205) at the urging of the Women's Field Army (now the American Cancer Society) and the North Carolina Medical Society. The statute included the provision that the Cancer Committee of the North Carolina Medical Society would serve as an advisory council to the Department of Health and Human Services. The legislative purpose was "to establish and administer a program for the prevention and detection of cancer and for the care and treatment of persons with cancer." This was the first such program in the nation.